The N300 million insurance rebranding project designed to redress the negative image and perception of insurance amongst Nigerians failed due to a plethora of reasons ranging from defective messaging, poor execution, lack of focus to target audience and ineffective monitoring and feedback mechanism.
The insurance rebranding project which kick-started in 2018 was an innovation of the Insurers’ Committee, comprising of the managers of the 58 registered insurance companies as well as the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), aimed at deepening insurance acceptance and penetration through massive insurance education and awareness across all states of the federation, even though, Lagos and Abuja wre expected to be the pilot states.
While NAICOM had contributed N40 million towards the project, the 58 insurance companies were said to have contributed the remaining N260 billion, even though, Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA), Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB), Institute of Loss Adjusters of Nigeria (ILAN) and Association of Registered Insurance Brokers of Nigeria (ARIAN), have promised funding support to the rebranding initiative.
The insurance industry rebranding was mooted to change the current poor public perception about insurance products and services and also to educate the public on the need to embrace insurance as a tool for poverty alleviation.
Part of the exercise which was outsourced to Alder Consulting was to create a tempo and the hype that would attract the public attention to insurance through print, electronic and social media platforms.
An operator described the failure of the project as an embarrassment to the entire insurance industry. He warned that it would be difficult to get many underwriters to sign on to a similar initiative in the future, especially with the challenge of recapitalisation staring operators in the face currently.
